Friday, July 13, 2007

My tryst with the corporate Industry

My tryst with the corporate industry began when I stepped into one of India’s topnotch IT firms. My happiness knew no bounds despite the fact that I was signing a bond to serve the company for a specific period of time. But within a month I realized what a grave mistake I had committed. A friend of mine once told me that” when you enter an IT firm you are like the horse that is eager to grasp and within a few months you get converted to a donkey. And then you are so comfortable being a donkey that you don’t want to be a horse again.” From that day I decided I would see to it that I am never transformed into a donkey. But I was pretty doubtful, whether I could be classified as a horse. Jokes apart, that sole aim kept me going and I did pretty well for myself. Certifications to taking trainings to becoming a module lead and then to finally becoming a project lead. But the way was not easy. In a company strewn with politics it gets tough to carve a niche for yourself. There are times when you think your effort is not recognized. Most people have a complain with appraisals and like most of them, so do I. But more than leniency bias or halo effect the most important thing that never gets mentioned in performance review training is that the manager often happens to look at the qualities which characterize him. If he some years before had been a technical guy who would die or may be kill for his project he would but of course rate a guy similar to him much higher. So your appraisals depend a lot on the similarities you share with your seniors. And in this process even the creditworthy people don’t get recognized and off course sycophancy, nepotism, favoritism do come into picture. But trust me these factors spur you to go ahead and plan your future and they are probably a blessing in disguise and a curse monetarily. And thankfully I faced the same issues and decided to do my masters. Today was my last day and I can rightfully say "I am free of bonded labor". Anyways I guess I like writing about the corporate world and keep pinging this blog for new updates..........